Contact: Wayne Hoffman 208.336.9831

Washington, Sep 25 -
This evening, Congressman Bill Sali voted against a bill to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program because it will raise taxes, expand government healthcare to people who can already afford private insurance and make it easier for illegal aliens to get access to taxpayer-financed healthcare. HR 976 passed 265-159.

“This bill would raise taxes in order to provide a form of welfare for middle income people and illegal aliens. In short, this bill is going to hurt the people it is supposed to help, and help the people it shouldn’t,” said Sali. “This bill is very harmful. It takes money from hardworking Americans while opening the door to provide health insurance to undocumented foreign nationals, including gang members, drug cartel operatives and terrorists. Further, it taxes Idahoans to provide health insurance to people already covered by private insurance or can afford to get it.”

Under current law, states must determine whether Medicaid and SCHIP applicants are U.S. citizens. States can satisfy this requirement by having applicants show specified types of identity documents, like drivers’ licenses, passports or birth certificates, when they apply for these programs. The new bill weakens the current requirements and makes it easier for both legal and illegal aliens to break the law and qualify for Medicaid and SCHIP.

Under the SCHIP renewal, states could simply review Social Security numbers instead. But a commissioner from the Social Security Administration has said the Social Security number would fail to identify the people who should not be receiving benefits, including legal aliens who are not naturalized, illegal aliens who use another person’s Social Security number and illegal aliens who have overstayed their work permit.

Additionally, the SCHIP bill, which was originally intended to focus on low-income children, expands the program to include people who are well above the federal poverty level – providing coverage to families who earn in excess of $80,000 a year. By allowing people with high incomes to join the program, it encourages people to give up their private insurance in favor of government-provided health coverage, and requires Idahoans to subsidize healthcare for New Yorkers earning more than $80,000.

Sali also noted that the bill increases the tobacco tax by 61 cents to $1.